GET MESSY 2017 | CONNECTIONS CATCH-UP

Monday, 23 October 2017

Whilst I was away, Get Messy started a new season - Connections. I purposefully kept my distance from the season as I really was craving some creative blank space. I just needed to clear my mind and took my break in Japan as just that; a real break. Now back, I spent the weekend pouring over the past 3 weeks of prompts that I had missed and started to think of what I wanted to create. Whilst doing this, I had a mini epiphany and I think I set a new creative goal - perhaps my first ever!

I have wanted to create large, abstract pieces of art for years. It is my favorite art form to look at and absorb as well as what I am attracted to the most. I think the artists who create these kind of works are so brave and inspire me constantly. I have an Instagram folder called "art" and it is full of this style. Whenever I think about doing my own versions though... I not only draw a blank but I also feel highly inadequate. I feel as if I can't translate my ideas into the pictures I want and I feel stuck. Not as good. Crap. Un-qualified. So I stop. I go to something easier and more known to me. I have never brought the canvases that I have been talking about working on for years. It's become a pipe dream.

My abstract artists on Instagram dream list: Lauren HooperSarah Hardy-BoxHeather DayRowena MartinichIt's StefaSuzy LindowBut this weekend (for reasons really unknown to me, potentially a mix of the Get Messy webinars and just constant insta-stalking and jealously) I decided to get over myself and bite the abstract art bullet. Being a member of Get Messy has taught me and shown me time and time again how practice can perfect your art. How dedicating time to working on something can help you grow and nurture your style and develop a skill. Maybe the creative rut that I felt I was in was because I had reached the end of where I could go in my current creative format and I was craving something new, a fresh challenge and a new art form to explore.So - I have purposefully decided to start this journey. To find my abstract style and become the artist I desire to be.

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The following pages I made all in one afternoon and I have learnt so much more from them than I ever could have learnt from just looking at other people's work on Instagram. I am so excited to see where this new venture takes me and I hope you will enjoy watching my style grow!

I started safe with my favourite supplies; ink.

Patterns I knew

Colour combinations I loved

I then added in these neon elements to see where there would take the pieces

Very heavily galaxy inspired - I am taking the galaxies class from Get Messy and will be writing a full review on it soon!

I then tried mixing in bleach as the last series was so dark

I liked these but felt they were lacking somehow, I also couldn't connect them to my style

I then hit the jackpot of mixed media!

A blend of felt tip, oil pastel and then ink

This is my happy place

Stronger colour combinations

Metalliac AND neon?

Yes

YES

I then had to stop as everything was drying and I literally had no space left in my art room

What a happy little pile of self discovery on a Saturday

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" Get Messy Art Journalis an art journaling program/community. We are a group of like minded art journalers who have come together under this art form to learn, share, practice our skills and push past our creative limits with hopes to inspire. Our community values consistent creating, encouragement and support and trying new things. My blog contains affiliate links to Get Messy Art Journal. This means that when you purchase a yearly membership or class using links in my post, I receive a small percentage. We would love to have you join us as a member of Get Messy Art Journal soJoin Get Messy now! "

You might not realise this, but I have been looking up to you as one of my favorite abstract artists all this time. So, I am excited to see you discover yourself, new color and medium combinations, and see you grow in your art!